A Virtual Fall Craft Fair Hosted by QuiltShopGal!

November 11th, 2019

 

Quiltshopgal has done it again…she has organized a virtual fall craft fair this week, just in time for folks to pick up all kinds of beautiful handmade items for the holidays.  Everyday this week, she is featuring new online vendors who are featuring handmade items for sale.  Here is the line up:

 

 

 

 

Monday, Nov 11th

Monday’s Door Prizes are sponsored by:

  • Martingale

  •  By The Yard Calendar

  • Clover Needlecraft, Inc.

Tuesday, Nov 12th

Tuesday’s Door Prizes are sponsored by:

Wednesday, Nov 13th

Wednesday’s Door Prizes are sponsored by:

  • Martingale

  • By The Yard Calendar

  • Clover Needlecraft, Inc.

  • Quilts by Elsie

Thursday, Nov 14th

Thursday’s Door Prizes are sponsored by:

Friday, Nov 15th

Friday’s Door Prizes are sponsored by:

  •  Martingale

  • By The Yard Calendar

  • Clover Needlecraft, Inc.

BUT…she is also offering some fun and small “hunts” on her web site, and if you join in the fun, you are eligible to win some great daily door prizes!  Be sure to visit her blog to get in one the action, and it’s going on NOW!!!!!

 

No post in a LOOONNNGGG Time!

November 8th, 2019

It’s been a really long time since my last blog post and there really is no one reason for it.  Life got very busy and our new dog took up much more time than I thought she would (but we are still overjoyed to have her in the family!), and the hours of the day just got away from me.  We also did some major renovations on our home and we’ve never done renovations before, and we learned just how much upheaval they can bring with them!  We are about 99% done with renovations that took over almost the entire main floor and we have just started on some major outdoor renovations that will also last for months.  So far, we are very, very happy with the changes in our home and for two people who were already homebodies, we now feel like we never want to leave home.  We are now officially “nesters.”

In spite of this, I have been sewing up a storm, mainly charity sewing.  If you haven’t tried it, give it a shot as it is quite gratifying.  I pieced, quilted, and bound 14 quilts over the past 12 months and several hundred butterfly pillows, ear/heel pillows, and other assorted comfort items for 2 different hospices.  It is really satisfying to be able to complete projects quickly, and this has kind of been lost on me for the past few decades as I’ve worked on quilts that take several months to years to finish.  It’s also a nice feeling to know that my sewing skills help other people.

Here are some shots of one of the quilts I made for hospice earlier this year.  It is a very basic quilt that began with a center feathered wreath block that was an old leftover and I added borders to it in a classic Amish style:

This was totally fun to quilt.  Here is a close up of the center portion:

And here is a shot that kind of focuses on the widest blue/purple border area:

That section was quilted using the bump-back feather method, and the spine curves were made by tracing around acrylic circles that are used for ruler work quilting.  The narrow side borders are also quilted using the bump-back feather method, but the spines are straight, so the feathers have a very different look.

This next shot is a tangential shot that gives a good sense of the texture created by the quilting:

Ooooh, la-la!!   just love the warm colors and all that feathery goodness!  I sure hope the person who received it loves it as well!

I will try to post more often and I definitely will be posting next week as I have some exciting news to share…

Bold Colors are Back!

February 8th, 2019

My oldest brother needs to have bypass surgery next week, so I’m working on a lap quilt for him to use during his recovery.  He is an aging hippie who loves bold red colors and is also a graphic designer.  I went with another giant-scale orange peel pattern but in very loud and rich colors.  Here is a shot of it on my basting wall:

I ended up outlining the fabric color changes in the orange peel sections and I think that helps to accentuate the graphics of the fabric designs:

The centers of the orange peel blocks are quilted with simple ruler work:

The blue border is quilted with a loop-d-loop design and the outermost border is quilted with a series of arched swags with tapered channels inside:

Here’s a shot of the whole thing quilted:

Hope he likes it and hope he does great with his surgery!

Sidelined from Quilting

February 1st, 2019

The month of January came and went without even a single blog post…sorry about that!  I picked up some respiratory bug that really slowed me down for the first half of the month, but I was also sidelined because of something wonderful.  We adopted a shelter dog named Blondie who has wormed her way into our hearts:

She will turn 15 years old this April and is a gentle, sweet-natured dog.  Many folks have asked us why we would adopt such an old dog and that was a big part of why we adopted her.  She lived in shelter in another part of the state for 4 years and was transferred to a local shelter here last October when the original shelter closed.  We figured she was so old that no one would ever adopt her and she was so good-natured that we couldn’t resist making a wonderful home for her final years.  She has been a wonderful addition to our family and she’s been great for me because we go on two long walks each day.  She has both Ernie and me wrapped around her little pinky (paw) and she pretty much gets everything she wants.

 

 

So, where does that leave my quilting life?  I completed only 1 hospice donation quilt in the month of January:

 

I really toned down my color choices on this one because I was worried my quilts might be a bit too bright for some hospice patients’ taste.  The orange peel center section was quickly quilted with ruler work:

 

Here’s another view that shows the texture a little better:

 

The outermost borders were quilted with long featherettes:

Hospice Donation Quilt #6 for the period of 10/1/18-9/30/19.

 

 

…and just one more shot of my new buddy, Blondie, as she prepared for a 9-hour car trip:

My First Orange Peel Quilt

December 23rd, 2018

I completed another hospice donation quilt and this one is the first orange peel quilt I’ve made.  Totally, totally fun!  This one is made with very large melon shapes so it makes a very bold statement.  Here are some other shots:

While I was piecing it, my plan was to do far more intricate ruler work inside the orange peel designs.  I ended up leaving it very basic because I thought it would be  more appealing as a snuggly/comfort quilt that way.

There is something very appealing about that bold center section, at least to me! 

The melon shapes are all quilted with a loop-d-loop design.  I just can’t see any point in working hard on an intricate design on busy printed fabrics.  I’ve already started the next melon quilt because this one was so much fun.